Adorable Deviled Egg Chicks

I’m obsessed with making food that looks as good as it tastes. I’m not just talking about a well-plated dish. I’m talking about a dish that elicits ooh’s and aww’s when it’s served! These deviled egg chicks are absolutely adorable and totally fit the bill.

For happier chicks, I recommend starting with eggs from happy chickens – like these organic, pastured-raised eggs from The Family Cow, an amazing organic farm in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania that uses eco-friendly farming practices.

Steaming the eggs will make them a whole lot less likely to break, and a whole lot easier to peel! Fill a large pot with about 1 inch of water. Place a steamer basket or a metal colander in the pot and cover. Bring to a boil.

Carefully place the eggs in the colander for a nice steam bath. Leave them in for around 12-13 minutes, depending on how hard-boiled you like your eggs.

While they’re in the sauna, add 2 cups of ice cubes to a large bowl and fill it with water. Once the eggs are finished, immediately place the whole colander in the ice bath. (This is the egg equivalent of jumping in snow after sitting in a hot tub. Those daredevils!)

Let them cool for 15 minutes, then peel. To make this tedious task a whole lot easier, dunk those suckers in the ice bath water while you peel! The shell bits will just slide right off. I assume this is the reason why some mothers opt for underwater births. Having never birthed anything, that’s just a guess. You should probably consult a doctor on that one. But I promise the egg peeling will be a breeze.

The babies:

The carnage:

Now comes the torturous fun part. You’ll need to slice a teeny tiny sliver off of one end (we’ll call this the butt) so the chick can stand up. Then you’ll cut a larger chunk off of the other end (we’ll call this the hat). Deciding which side is the hat and which side is the butt is a total crap shoot. I tried to make sure the hat came off the side where the yolk was closer to the surface. It makes the scooping a whole lot easier.

BONUS: You can eat the butts! You won’t need them for anything in this recipe. Consider them your tasty reward for getting through this complicated part.

Use a teeny tiny spoon to scoop out the yolk (from the hat and the body). Place the yolks in a food processor for the filling. You can use your favorite filling recipe, or try the delicious one I adapted from Serious Eats (see below).

The chopping and scooping is trickier than traditional deviled egg halves. The eggs won’t all be perfect – embrace the imperfections! (Or, curse them, acknowledge there’s nothing you can do to fix it at this point, and move on.)

Here’s where you need to whip out those mad artistry skillz. Fill each egg body with fillling. You can do this with a tiny spoon or with a piping bag. I opted for the tiny spoon. Balance the hat on the filling at a jaunty angle – these chicks have attitude.

Stab two capers into the filling approximately where the eyes should be. Pause and laugh at how much these critters resemble trash can monsters.

Slice and dice a fat carrot into beaks and feet. I cut off a thin slice, and then cut out a triangle chunk for the nose. Then, I cut off an even thinner slice and chopped that into thin strips to make the feet.

Stab the nose into the filling. Ahh, now it looks like a chick!

Arrange the sticks haphazardly under the egg until they resemble chicken feet.

Make sure to serve these immediately – you don’t want them to start drooping! You can make the filling and the bodies ahead and then assemble them right before serving!

Adorable Deviled Egg Chicks:

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 12 hard-boiled eggs
• 1 batch of deviled egg filling (recipe to follow)
• 1 fat carrot
• 24 capers

Instructions:

1. Lay an egg on its side and cut a 1/4 inch slice off of the end where the yolk is. This will be the top of the shell. Then cut a thin sliver off the other end. This is the base of the chick.
2. Scoop the yolk out of the top and body of the egg. Place the yolks into a food processor and prepare the filling (recipe to follow).
3. Pipe or scoop the filling into the egg, so that there’s a mound coming out of the top.
4. Arrange the top slice of egg white on each chick at a jaunty angle.
5. Cut several thin slices off the fat end of the carrot. Cut 12 triangular noses from these slices.
6. Place 2 capers and a carrot nose into the yolk of each egg to make the face.
7. Slice several more thin slices from the carrot, and slice these into thin slivers.
8. Arrange the eggs on your serving tray, then add feet by slipping the slivers of of carrot under their bodies. Place 3 pieces together on each side to make the feet.
9. Serve cold. Best served within 1-2 hours.

 

Zesty Deviled Eggs:

Makes 12

Adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients:

• 12 large eggs, not too fresh
• 3 tablespoons homemade mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Fill a large pot with 1 inch of water. Place a steamer basket or colander inside, cover, and bring to a boil. Add eggs to steamer basket and cook for 12-13 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, add 2 cups of ice cubes to a large bowl and fill with water.
3. After the eggs have finished cooking, immediately place them in the bowl of ice water and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.
4. Peel the eggs underwater in the ice water.
5. Follow the instructions above to slice the eggs to create chick shells.
6. Place all of the yolks in the bowl of a food processor. Add mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, cayenne pepper and paprika to food processor and process until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
7. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in 1 tablespoons of olive oil.
8. Season mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Pipe or scoop into eggs.